On This Day – Pete Souza: “A quiet moment inside Nelson Mandela’s former prison cell as the President embraced Sasha while the Obama family was listening to Ahmed Kathrada recount his years spent imprisoned here on Robben Island in Cape Town, South Africa. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, initially in this prison cell. Kathrada was imprisoned at Robben Island for 18 years.” June 30, 2013

Sweet 16 for Malia. When I was 16 my older sister took me to a Broadway show and dinner. Then she took me to a lounge and actually ordered a martini for me and no body balked!!! I never felt so grownup in my life, though I paid for it with a rotten headache the next day. It was worth it, though. Best birthday ever!!!

I don’t think anyone who lives in MS believed that Cochran was supporting voters’ rights. And certainly not the Black voters who voted for him in the primary. As I said, Cochran was assessed to be the lesser of two evils relative to McDaniels – who was straight up KKK…

I find it a bit patronizing when people in the media (like Sargent), on Twitter, etc throw out snarky remarks about Cochran – implying that the AA voters there have rose-colored glasses about what kind of politician he is. After all the state is MS, not NY or CA, and the residents there know the reality.

Also implying that Blk voters were stupid…and not the savy voters they were….These voters flexed their musles…i hope they continue to do so…and i agree growing up in Mississippi they are under no illusions about where either one of these candidates stand…..

That’s exactly my point PF58. I’m now discussing this very issue with someone on Twitter, and he is pushing the same argument that the Back voters there were somehow bamboozled by Cochran…as I’ve stated on another thread a few days ago, AAs are among the savviest voters in the the US – they’ve HAD to be, because their political choices traditionally have been limited to the lesser of two evils and they do not have the luxury of the idealist positions that we see with privileged emoprogs.

Morning Chips and TODers. SCOTUS is likely to anger, frustrate and aggravate us today, so I’m bracing for impact. The best response is to double our efforts for the candidates we support. At our fundraiser last night, Manen Trivedi encouraged all of us to have house parties for our neighbors–just coffee and cake–where we could talk about the election and the candidates. More Dems will eventually get us fewer right wing SCOTUS judges, so it’s worth the effort.

We return now to the self-evident fact that this is a frivolous lawsuit. Nothing more. It relies almost entirely on the cynical notion that most Americans are frustratingly uneducated about the functioning of the U.S. government, while also dreadfully forgetful when it comes to history that took place just five or ten years ago. Through this loophole of ignorance, the congressional Republicans have been getting away with political murder for the last five years, with truth and reason as the first victims.

The 112th Congress was the least productive since the clerk’s office started keeping track seven decades ago, and this current 113th Congress is on track to do even less.
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What about the House Republican policy agenda? It apparently doesn’t exist. What about the desire to have some legislative accomplishments? It’s been overwhelmed by political lethargy. This crop of lawmakers is giving new meaning to the phrase “do-nothing Congress,” and instead of scurrying to prove themselves capable of governing, they’re content to just accept the label and go home.
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The evidence to bolster that thesis is increasingly apparent. There is such a thing as a governing party. It just so happens that the House Republican conference isn’t one of them. For those in doubt, look no further than the fact that these lawmakers have accomplished practically nothing this year, and are apparently so exhausted by their failures that they’d prefer to start working even less.

Well, Nerdy, I’m taking no bets because this SCOTUS is too nutty to predict. Whatever it is, we’ll have to plod on and keep sowing the seeds for a new SCOTUS. It just takes one of the righties to decide to spend more time with family.

Wild and wooly in my area in the middle of the night, weather wise. Woke us up at 2:30 a.m.——huge winds, house-rattling thunder, non-stop lightning, pounding rain—–checked weather channel— we were under tornado warning. Heard no possibility of this on evening news. News today said there were warning sirens in town, but we didn’t hear them thru all the storm noise. And if I happened to be up at 2:30a.m.—-would have seen all kinds of “Take Shelter Now” for my area on twitter. This seems to be a mostly new phenomenon in my experience—-tornadoes in the middle of the night. I saw no lights on in the neighborhood during all this—-most people were likely asleep and were unaware—-dangerous. And there is a forecast now for more severe weather for later today, possible tornadoes. So much violent weather.

And the sad thing is, Jer, we shouldn’t have to be explaining this again in 2014. It’s only because racist haters have infiltrated our state houses, our Congress and our courts that we’re even having to explain the obvious.

Lots of “buzz” here in K’town today………..body of Senator Howard Baker, Jr. lying in repose at the Howard Baker Center downtown. Funeral is tomorrow in his hometown of Huntsville in a small Presbyterian church. There’s been many articles and stories about him since he passed away Thursday………everyone pointing out how he was a consensus builder…….that was ALWAYS his priority, not party. He always put country/state first. If only we had even a few like him today. Every time I read that, I remembered that our senior pastor (who passed away last year) wrote Bob Corker two or three letters in 2010-2011 encouraging him to emulate Howard Baker. Then Pastor Steve said, “Obviously it didn’t work.” (Steve and Bob Corker went back many years. Corker had been member of his church when he was in Chattanooga.)

Mr. dotster was watching Morning Joe when I got up—he said it was safe because Joe wasn’t there today. (it wasn’t) But I happened to catch horrible conservative Matt Lewis making this comment after a Bill Clinton segment aired, “Isn’t Bill Clinton still amazing?” And I thought—-I bet he was one who jumped on the Clinton impeachment train, joined in the daily outrageous accusations——-and now we hear that he thinks Clinton is “still amazing”. I thought the same and more will be true post-Obama presidency. In unguarded moments, they will one day also be caught saying about President Obama, “Wasn’t he the most amazing leader?” Because everything we see, they see, and it’s what is currently driving them insane and to desperation.

Also, much of their current “praise” for Clinton is nothing but a cheap shot at the current President. It’s also an underhanded attempt to divide the Dem coalition and make it about the Clintons vs. the Obamas. Notice the media almost NEVER compared Reagan with Bush, or Bush with Romney/McCain. They also rarely compare Clinton with Bush, or Clinton with Reagan.

HF, I think the downfall of haters is that they see the world through their own distorted lenses and believe that others are as warped as they are. This always gets them in the end because we see through them and understand their shenanigans. Knowing what the con is makes us more powerful.

Target kicks moms armed with babies and signs out of their parking lot but allows gun nuts with AK-47s slung over their shoulders in their stores and in their parking lots. Something is wrong with this picture……

I wish I lived near one. I’d go in, see if there are any people with guns there, stock up a cart, go to check out then tell them I am not spending money where people can carry weapons. Let them retock the merchandise. Ice cream too if they sell that and other frozen items will be in that cart too.